A 21-year-old Swede was indicted on charges of hacking into the computer systems of NASA and US networking giant Cisco, the US Justice Department said.

Philip Gabriel Pettersson, also known as "Stakkato," was indicted on charges of intrusion and misappropriating trade secrets, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Pettersson was accused in the five-count indictment of breaking into the computer system and network of San Jose, California-based Cisco in May 2004 and stealing operating system code.

He allegedly broke into computers belonging to the US space agency NASA's Ames Research Center and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division in Moffett Field, California, in May and October of the same year.

The Justice Department did not provide Pettersson's current whereabouts but said it will "continue to work cooperatively with the Swedish authorities on the case."

It said the maximum penalty for each charge of intrusion and theft of trade secrets is 10 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars.

(Canwest)